Reversal
by Reculif
Summary: In Brockton Bay heroes and villains battle for control of the streets. The hero Lung leads the Protectorate against villains such as Armsmaster and New Wave. Jackslash leads a roving group of heroes and helpers. Meanwhile Legend, Alexandria and Eidolon continue their ceaseless assault on humanity. Amongst all this a girl with the power to control bugs attempts to make it as a hero.
1. Chapter 1

"It seems we arrived just in time, are you alright miss?"

I pushed myself off the gravel just enough to see who had spoken. The first thing I saw was an outreached arm offering help. The owner of the arm was an attractive man with a lean and muscular body. He wore neat civilian clothes, nothing fancy just a white button up shirt and jeans. His hair was gelled back and his beard neatly trimmed into a goatee. His smile was warm and friendly.

Next to him was a young blond girl wearing a spotless white surgeons suit that looked out of place on such a small child.

She regarded me calmly as the man helped me up. "Do you need first aid?" She asked.

I shook my head in a daze. I had seen these two online, it couldn't truly be them could it?

"Holy crap, are you-"

"Hey!" The girl interrupted. "No swearing!"

It must be. Jacob and Bonesaw were here which must mean the rest of their team had arrived as well. They were here to save us.

I looked out in the distance where my teammates were fighting Legend. He certainly wasn't making it easy, but now that backup had arrived defeating the Endbringer started looking much more likely.

* * *

_One month earlier_

Tonight was the night. I was making my first patrol as a new Superhero.

To be honest I had no idea what to expect. It's a big city and everyone knows the docks are filled with crime. However who knows what I should even be looking for. Not all crime is as blatant as robbing a bank. I would wager that if the average person was in the presence of a drug deal they wouldn't even notice.

Nevertheless I managed to find some criminal activity. Or at least I found some criminals, whether or not they actually do any crime tonight is the question.

I crouched on the rooftop and watched the scene below me. Several members of one of Brockton Bay's gangs were standing around talking. I couldn't quite tell which gang they were from. However the snippets of conversation I'd heard convinced me they were worth watching.

I couldn't quite hear their conversation so I inched closer. As I did a new figure stepped out of a nearby building and joined the gang members. The moment I saw who it was I ducked back undercover and prayed he hadn't seen me.

He was a tall figure in what was probably Brockton Bay's most distinctive set of armour. Dark blue with black highlights, only his mouth and untrimmed beard were visible. In his hand he held his signature halberd.

Armsmaster.

He lead the Minutemen, arguably Brockton Bay's most feared gang. Crap, if he's here then one of his powered subordinates might be here as well. This is really more than a solo cape can handle. I should leave.

"-no mercy to those little brats. If you see one of them on the ground, shoot them twice to make sure the bitch is dead." As I heard this my roving bugs found out what the gang members were holding - guns.

The realisation hit me like a bolt of lightning. "Little brats" must mean children. The Minutemen are going to murder children!

I can't let this happen. Mentally kicking myself for not bringing a cellphone I realise I only have one option. I have to stop this myself, even if Armsmaster is the most dangerous Tinker in the city.

I reach out with my power and felt the swarm I had been building. Shutting my eyes I focused on sorting each bug. I can't use any of the more poisonous bugs such as the several hundred brown recluses. However I had enough bees to scare the thugs off. The risk that one of them was allergic was just one I would have to take.

_Attack._

First I send in the bees, aiming for the hands of the gang members and the exposed part of Armsmaster's visor. There were a few yelps of pain below as the first bees arrive. A few Minutemen drop their guns and ran. Others tried to pull out phones, I had a few of the more intimidating arachnids cover those.

My bugs on Armsmaster sensed him turn on his Tinkertech halberd and I felt a few of the bugs instincts to pursue the light that just appeared. He swung the weapon and a few of my bugs were killed instantly. Not enough to matter.

Giddy with adrenaline I had to suppress a laugh. Is that it? The great tinker doesn't have a way to deal with bugs?

The last of the thugs gave up and ran from the swarm, fortunately none of them had gone into anaphylactic shock.

There was a roar of defiance as Armsmaster watched his men route. He shouted something in a rage however it was too muffled through the swarm for me to hear. Fortunately I'm hidden here, so long as I don't move into sight he can't see me.

Or not. In an instant he turned in my direction and ran straight for the building I was on top of. Crap, some sort of tinkertech device to locate people most likely. Heat detection maybe?

I scrambled to my feet and tried to run to the fire escape but I don't make it in time. Using his halberd Armsmaster ascends to the roof and looks directly at me. Now that I'm seeing him with my eyes I can see dozens of bee stings on the exposed part of his visor.

"I've got you, bitch." His voice is muffled through the bee stings. "You thought you were clever hiding on the roof."

He took a step forward and grabs me as I try to climb down. I fumbled in my belt for something I can use. An epi-pen? Pepper spray?

_I hope this works_. I think to myself as I empty the can directly into Armsmasters face.

He screams in pain, that can't be good on his beestung face. However he doesn't let me go.

I grab the epi-pen, maybe if I stab him with it in the right spot?

As my fingers closed around it I heard a whoop followed closely by a dark shape the size of a van flying through the air and hitting Armsmaster. His loses his grip on me and goes flying. The bugs I still have on him detect him trying to wrestle with the large creature. His halberd is a few metres away however it teleports back into his hand. With it he is able to fight the creature back.

Two more of the creatures arrive on the rooftop, each with two riders. It was hard to see in the dark however it looked like two girls and two guys. The riders dismounted to watch the fight and one of the guys - tall with a black costume and a mask with a stylized face - stepped towards me.

"You really saved us a lot of trouble." He said. Now that I could see his costume up close it looked professionally done. Full black leather with what must be kevlar underneath. His helmet was thick and seemed to be made of a similar material to motorcycle helmets. It looked good, maybe even a little expensive. In the back of my mind I felt a dim recognition however it struggled to surface though the shock of my one sided fight.

He reached his hand towards me and held it there. I could only stare at it not trusting myself not to turn this situation into something worse so I maintained my silence.

He jerked his hadn't over his shoulder. "We were training nearby when we got word Armsmaster was planning something. No one else could arrive on so we decided to handle it ourselves, intercept him and his cronies before they did too much damage."

A loud whistle came from one of the girls and the other two creatures joined the fight.

"Wouldn't you know, his flunkie Miss Militia was there with half a dozen cronies, but no Armsmaster to be found." His laugh was surprisingly normal.

"Militia's tough but without her boss she was no match while outnumbered four to one. I guess you're responsible for that?" He waited for a response from me. When I still didn't offer him one he stepped towards the edge of the roof and looked down.

He whistled the spoke without looking back at me. "Damn, the fuck did you do to him?"

One of the girls answered for me, not the one that whistled earlier. "Pepper spray, wasp and bee stings, fire ant bites." She wore a skintight suit that was black with a pale blue while her long blond hair was free to blow in the wind. She grinned, "even if he has some fancy tinkertech he'll feel that in the morning."

Grue looked over his shoulder at me. "You aren't saying much. Are you hurt?"

"The reason she isn't speaking isn't because she'd hurt. It's because she's shy."

The man in black finished watching the fight and turned back to me. "Introductions. That's Tattletale. I'm Grue. The girl with the dogs we have to call Hellhound for PR reasons however in private she prefers to go by Bitch. Last and certainly least we have Regent."

"Fuck you Grue." Regent chuckled.

My mind finally caught up. I do know these four. "You're the Brockton Bay Wards." I exclaimed with a gasp before I could stop myself.

The three paying attention to me chuckled. Regent elbowed Grue. "Look, we're famous."

Grue was about to say something until he was cut off by a groan from Tattletale who had lost her smile. "Heads up."

My bugs detected a new person enter the scene. He quickly finished off the exhausted Arsmaster and joined the five of us on the rood. I recognised him as well. Lung, head of the Brockton Bay Protectorate.

I should have been excited to meet real life superheroes. Honestly however I was too tired to care at this point.

He regarded us before speaking. "I thought I told you four not to engage Armsmaster before backup arrived."

Grue was the one to respond. "He could have killed someone before then. We had to try something. And besides everything turned out well thanks to this girl."

Lung looked directly at me and I had to fight the urge to step back from that scrutinizing gaze. "And who is this?"

"We found her fighting Armsmaster and winning for the most part." Huh? In what world would you call that winning?

"I see, do you have a name?"

I shook my head. "Do you know how hard it is to come up with a bug themed name that doesn't make you sound like a villain?"

Regent spoke up with a slightly mocking tone. "Butterfly? Ladybug? Honestly even something lame like that is bound to be more creative than 'Lung'"

Lung simply glared at him. "What were you thinking going up against someone like Armsmaster alone?"

"I don't know, I overheard him saying he was going to attack some children and had to step in. I didn't think to bring a way to contact someone for help."

"That's why we have the Ward program. In addition to the training and the backup we think of things like that for you so you're never in the position of wishing you had thought to bring a phone."

I nodded at that without commenting. I had considered joining the Wards initially however the notion of escaping teenage high school drama by diving into teenage superhero drama didn't appeal to me. Though I have to say from what I've seen tonight the Wards were actually more down to earth than I was expecting.

Grue spoke up. "I get that you want to do the solo hero thing, I did too initially. However I have to recommend the Wards as well. Much easier to fight bad guys when you have allies at your back."

Lung handed me a card. "Just think about it for a few days. Now we need to decide what we do about the credit for capturing Armsmaster."

That caught me off guard, I was about to respond when he held up his hand and continued speaking.

"You did good work tonight. Playing a role in getting a major supervillain into custody. However we need to consider the consequences before mentioning you. Armsmaster has a large gang as well as powered subordinates, Miss Militia being the one you should be most worried about."

"We fought Miss Militia. She escaped." Grue mentioned.

"Unfortunate. And exactly what I was getting at. Someone like her is bound to try and get revenge for tonight."

"You're saying I shouldn't take any credit?"

"What I'm saying is that we'll hold off on announcing Armsmaster's capture for 48 hours. If you do decide to join the Wards we can offer you protection. If you go solo it's better to fly under the radar and not make any enemies."

I nodded slowly.

"Like I said think about it for a few days, no need to feel pressured."

I guess it's the best choice I'll get.

Lung looked back at his Wards. "And don't think I've forgotten about you four. There'll be double patrols for all of you after tonight." Groans all around. "We're heading off, we need to get Armsmaster into custody."

"You want a ride home on one of the dogs?" Grue asked while pointing over his shoulder at the van sized creatures.

_Those things are dogs?!_ I thought as I backed away shaking my head.

The Wards chuckled. Regent clapped me on the shoulder. "No shame, takes some getting used to for everyone." With that they climbed on the dogs and left me alone on the roof.

It was going to take half an hour to get home. I glanced at the card Lung had given me before starting to head back. I had a lot to consider over the next two days.


	2. Chapter 2

**Just a short chapter for now. I aim to make future chapters larger than these past two have been.**

**This is my first attempt at putting my writing online, any criticism or reviews is greatly appreciated.**

* * *

"We'll just do a basic patrol today. Something to show you the ropes so you get a feel for what we do here." Grue told me as we walked through the streets. Behind us the protective figure of Bakuda loomed. Every once in a while the two Heroes would wave or pose for a camera. 'Community outreach' Grue had informed me.

Earlier that morning I called the number Lung gave me and requested this trial period, a small taste of what life in the Wards would be like. Director Calvert was keen to get a new Ward on board and so sent me out with Grue on his next patrol as soon as he could. I had intended to avoid joining the Wards however after last night I realised the extra support might just save my life. And they seem like good people.

Though Emma had seemed like a good person as well.

"Come up with a name yet?"

I shook my head.

"You really should think of one soon. People will already be talking about the new girl doing a patrol with the Wards. If you don't come up with one soon the media will grow impatient and just give you one. Once that happens you're stuck with it."

"Would that be so bad? Saves me the trouble of coming up with one myself."

"Nah, trust me you don't want that. It's how I got stuck with the name Grue."

"What's wrong with Grue? I like it."

"It sounds a but creepy for a Hero name don't you think? Someone got my power on video and 'creepy' was the first thing they thought of. Now I'm 'The Grue'"

I'd read up on all the heroes in Brockton Bay before heading out last night. Grue's power was to create clouds of darkness around himself, blocking all light and sound for those inside. I could certainly see how his power could scare someone.

Bakuda meanwhile was some sort of Tinker like Armsmaster but focusing on bombs instead. She was here because a trial Ward needs supervision from the Protectorate while on patrol.

"Right you two enough chatting!" She suddenly spoke causing both of us to stop and turn to her. "We just got a report of some Minutemen nearby, we need to intercept them and perform an arrest."

Grue nudged me in the shoulder. "Lucky you, looks like you get to see some action today after all."

"Grue I want you to cut of their exit. If they enter your darkness, take them down." He nodded. "You - bug girl - just watch and alert us about any stragglers. I'd like to avoid you getting into a combat situation under my watch if at all possible."

I nodded. Disappointing but about what I expected.

"Now I read your file. Master class with control of insects. Can it be used to scout?"

"Yes. I can sense any bug within my range, if there are any Minutemen hiding I should be able to detect them."

Bakuda nodded. "Good. That can be a useful ability to have in battle. We should be approaching the targets, tell me what you sense."

I sent my bugs out to feel the surroundings. Sure enough in an alleyway nearby five men were hanging around chatting and trying to act like they weren't suspicious. All of them had concealed guns.

"There's five…" I trailed off. Not five, there was a sixth man with a gun. I hadn't noticed him before as he wasn't a part of the main group. Instead he was in a room with stacks of contraband and an entrance next to where the other men were standing.

"Scratch that, six. There's five in the alleyway and another inside guarding what looks to be a hidden stash. All with guns."

Grue looked impressed while Bakuda simply nodded. "Excellent, it was worth bringing you along then. We could really use a power like yours in the Wards. Grue split off."

Grue departed our group and I sensed him move to cut off the other end of the alleyway. When everything was in position he started blanketing the exit in darkness and Bakuda pounced.

She threw a small grenade into the group of men. It sent a small jolt of electricity into four of the men, just enough to stun them. Less than a second after the tazing the grenade covered the four of them in containment foam. With her other hand she threw another grenade with perfect accuracy. It landed just above the door and stuck there.

The fifth man seeing his companions get tazed and foamed in less than a second started to freak. He bolted in the opposite direction to Bakuda only to be consumed by the Darkness. He disappeared and I lost sight of him, however with my bugs I felt him as he was intercepted by Grue and knocked over.

The sixth man burst through the door to see what the commotion was. His eyes immediately fell on the four men at his feet. Before he could react however the grenade above his head activated and sent a blast of containment foam in all directions, covering him and stopping his escape.

I was as stunned as if I had been hit by Bakuda's taser. Six armed gang members taken out in less than five seconds, the skill of the Protectorate in full display.

I watched as Grue dragged a handcuffed Minuteman and chucked him onto the foam pile. Now all of them were stuck until the authorities could arrive.

Grue walked up to me. "Nice job with the scouting Bug girl. That sixth guy would have taken us completely by surprise if you weren't here."

I was taken aback by the praise. I had done nothing but watch as he effortlessly took down an armed gang member. And he was congratulating me? "I-it was no problem."

"How about something related scouting for your name? Sonar?"

"I'm not sure that fits. I feel it should be something bug related."

"It doesn't have to be, but if you insist. Did whoever made your costume offer a suggestion?"

"I didn't use a costume maker, I made it myself."

"No shit? It looks professionally done."

"Thanks. It's spider silk. Stronger than steel and as flexible as cloth."

He paused for a second. "That's pretty damned cool."

Bakuda approached having noticed our conversation. Her expression was unreadable beneath her mask. "This silk, is it mass producible?"

"If I'm given enough spiders then sure."

"The Protectorate will want to buy as much as you can produce then. I can convince someone to provide you with more spiders if that will help production."

Selling my spider silk? I hadn't thought of doing that before. However it did give me an idea I had been considering but never had the resources to follow through with.

"Can I request a specific type of spider? Say the Darwin's Bark?"

This time I could see Bakuda narrow her eyes through the masks eye sockets. "That sounds venomous."

"It's not, or at least I assume it isn't that venomous. But that's not what I want it for. It's silk is ten times tougher than kevlar and way more flexible than anything else of an equivalent strength."

Grue whistled. Bakuda seemed to ponder what I had just said. "I can look into it. If it is truly as strong as you say it won't be difficult to convince someone to pay for it."

"This is contingent on me joining the Wards isn't it?"

"I didn't want to put pressure on you by saying so, but yes. It will be an uphill battle convincing the PRT to divert badly needed resources so an independant can start their own business."

"I figured." Thoughts rushed through my head as I pondered the decision one final time. "Alright. I'll join the Wards."

* * *

The Ward welcoming party was pretty much what I was expecting when I was invited to the PRT building for 'orientation'.

I was pointed towards a room. The moment I entered I was greeted by a cheer along with a table filled with cake and assorted party food. One of those tacky 'welcome' banners you see on movies was dangling from the roof.

My new teammates were there standing around to celebrate. Well all of them besides Hellhound, she glared from her seat in the corner and had already dug into the chips.

Tattletale walked up and popped a bottle of sparkling grape juice. "Sorry, our overlords upstairs won't let teenagers have the real deal. We'll throw you a real party with some champagne when they aren't watching," she winked while pouring the juice into a thin champagne glass.

Regent strutted over and shoved a plate with a slice of cake into my hands. "Do not listen to that troublemaker," he said in a tone of mock authority, "we here in the Wards are model citizens. No underaged drinking for the likes of us no sir!"

I smiled despite my reservations. The three of them were much more down to earth than I thought a team of Heroes would be. The chance to have friends might not be so bad after all. It still wasn't enough to wash away the distrust from Emma's betrayal, but it was helping.

The friendly attitudes of three of my teammates only brought more attention to the fourth however. Eventually I couldn't stop myself from asking.

"Hey what's wrong with Hellhound?"

The others glanced at her then immediately looked back. Tattletale was the one to speak, "don't take it personally. She's like this with everyone."

"Yeah the Bitch in her name doesn't just refer to her power." Regent joked earning an elbow from Tattletale and a glare from Grue.

"She's not the most social person at the best of times, but try not to hold it against her." Grue whispered. "She went through a lot and it's honestly a miracle that she wound up in the Wards and not striking out as a Villain."

I stared at him and waited for him to continue.

"We don't know much about her past. Only that she bounced between foster homes and that there was an incident when she gained her powers. She couldn't control them at first and it almost killed someone."

I thought back to the time I saw the dogs in action and shuddered at the thought of one of those things going out of control.

"Do you know what happened?" I asked.

He shook his head. "Only that a nearby Hero stepped in before the person died and was able to convince her to take the Wards over juvie."

I was about to press further when everyone's phones went off at once.

Brain took out his phone and started reading whatever message had been sent to the team. "Sorry Taylor, looks like we'll have to cut your party short. We're being called in to an incident."

"What's going on? Who is it?"

"There's a bank robbery in progress that we were called in to stop, a team of villains calling themselves the Undersiders."


	3. Chapter 3

**Going to answer questions from the review here.**

**TigerCat: I'm aiming to swap pretty much everyone around. The only people that will be spared are more neutral characters or characters that I can't fit into the opposite role cleanly. For the Battery/Assault backstory I'm thinking Battery brainwashed or somehow just convinced Assault into becoming a villain. Thomas Calvert aka Canon Coil takes Piggot's job as the Director for the PRT in Brockton Bay, he secretly has a power that he uses to help the Heroes.**

**Black Cat Eyes: Uber and Leet are closer to vigilantes than Heroes. They go around finding petty criminals to brutalise for their streaming site similar to Shadow Stalker before joining the Wards. Due to this the other Heroes of Brockton Bay consider them little more than menaces that just happen to only target criminals. They still have their gamer theme going on.**

**Also does anyone have a ****preference**** with Taylor's name? I feel like Skitter sounds too villainous and she hasn't started using webs enough to become Weaver yet.**

* * *

Luckily the five of us were already in costume so we didn't have to waste time getting ready.

We arrived just as the robbery was finishing up and lined up across the street from the bank to cut the Undersiders off when they tried to flee. Around us the rain poured down, lending a feeling of anticipation to the situation.

"Why the hell are we just standing here? Let's break the fuckers." Hellhound was practically chomping at the bit. Her dogs already grown to full size on the van ride over.

"Language Hellhound. We have PR to think about." Grue admonished her.

Tattletale was hanging back and focusing on figuring out the situation. "They have hostages, we can't go in until we know they're safe. Stinger can you give me a hand."

Stinger would be me. I still hadn't selected my official name so I had been saddled with a temporary one. It would have to do.

My bugs were already scouting the place out. I had been briefed on the Undersiders during the trip. Teenage villains, relatively small time until recently. They were notoriously hard to catch, every time things looked bad they used Vista's space warping power to escape.

I tagged everyone in the building, hostages included. The Undersiders were standing near the entrance, watching us through the windows. One of them was hanging back, likely to keep an eye on the hostages. Female and much shorter than the others, that would be Vista then.

The others were just standing there. Aegis, Gallant, Clockblocker and Kid Win. No Shadow Stalker? Is she sitting this out?

No. My bugs found her sneaking to ambush us. That explains why they're just waiting then. I relayed the information to Grue prompting a nod from him, apparently he and Shadow Stalker had some kind of rivalry going on.

I quietly let my team know then used my swarm to point the direction and mark how far away she was. When she got close enough Grue blanketed her with darkness and moved to intercept. With her intangibility he was the only way who could effectively counter her. They fought and a crossbow bolt shot out of the darkness and flew within a foot of my head. Holy crap that thing really was live ammunition, villains play dirty.

The moment the Undersiders realised their ambush had failed they charged. In the same instant my swarm descended on them. Aegis, Gallant and Clockblocker completely ignored them swarm and continued charging forward. Aegis flew high only to be knocked back down by Regent's power. When he fell close enough Hellhounds dogs grabbed him.

Gallant maintained his distance and tried to fire blasts of his power at us. I had to dive to the side to avoid one, having your emotions toyed with does not sound fun. Regent used his power to hamper Gallants accuracy enough for me to get behind cover.

Clockblocker was trying to get close enough to Hellhound's dogs to tag them. I tried to bring my swarm on top of him however his costume had no openings to enter through despite its relatively low budget.

Inside the bank Kid Win had assembled some sort of hoverboard and gun. He also had a canon in mid assembly and I did not want to find out what it did. He flew out of the range of Hellhound's dogs and started firing the gun. Some sort of taser I guess, thankfully the blasts weren't enough to bother the dogs.

Clockbuster reached the dogs and was able to tag one of them. Rollo I think she'd called it, honestly it was hard to tell the difference between them in this form. It froze and Hellhound was forced to keep her other three dogs away from him. Meanwhile Kid Win had finished his canon and fired it at the dog holding Aegis.

The two of them went flying, unfortunately Aegis stood up first and flew away before the dog could pin him again.

Crap, this wasn't going well. Grue is still fighting Shadow Stalker, Aegis was free and something else about this situation was giving me a sense of danger. I needed to come up with an idea fast.

"Regent, switch!" I called and moved my swarm towards Gallant. He nodded and moved back to assist Hellhound who was trying to single handedly fight the three villains.

My swarm descended on Gallant who was still firing his emotional controlling energy blasts. However with my swarm I was able to start intercepting the blasts. The force knocked quite a few holes which I quickly patched up.

As for the emotion effect, the little control it had on my bugs was immediately overridden by my power. By the time he realised what I was doing it was two late, he was completely enveloped.

My bugs found the gaps in his costume and started biting and stinging to distract him, again nothing venomous. It wasn't long before his focus shifted to trying to lessen the attacks rather than attacking. When he was distracted I moved into close range and unleashed my can of pepper spray into his face.

While he was disabled from the pepper spray Tattletale stepped up and handcuffed him. I was turning to help Regent and Hellhound when she grabbed my shoulder and whispered in my ear. "Don't freak out but Glory Girl is here."

Despite her instruction alarm bells went off inside my head. "The villain from New Wave?! Here?" I looked to where she gestured and sure enough Glory Girl was floating above the fight, watching it. Her mask was a glittering gold that matched her tiara. An aura of menace and intimidation radiated off her forcing me to take a step back despite myself.

"What's she doing here? Is she with the Undersiders now?" I asked in a panic.

Tattletale shook her head. "Not sure why she's here but I don't think she's working with them, 90% sure. She isn't joining the fight on either side at least. Instead she's just been floating there, watching us."

"Keep an eye on her" I told her "I'll focus on the Undersiders, just tell me if she does anything."

"Look at you taking initiative, already fitting right into the cape life I see."

I blushed beneath my mask. I was being too presumptuous, she had been at this a lot longer than I had.

I distracted myself by focusing on the fight. Clockblocker had stopped another of Hellhound's dogs and Aegis was fighting the other two. Kid Win was trying to aim his canon again which I couldn't let happen. I had my swarm start chewing through the wiring in an attempt to disable it. When he fired his canon sputtered, smoked then stopped working which forced him to throw it aside.

It was then that the Undersiders started noticing Glory Girls presence as well. Thankfully they seemed just as worried as we were.

I just hoped that the situation that left us with was better than the alternative.

My bugs started making headway in attacking Clockblocker when they started tearing small holes in his costume to attack through.

His yelp of pain drew Aegis's attention. He saw Clockblocker under attack, Kid Win with smoke coming from his biggest weapon, a handcuffed Gallant and Shadow Stalker still not joining the fight.

Before one of Hellhound's dogs could grab him he flew over to pick up Clockblocker and Gallant and flew back into the bank with Kid Win following shortly behind.

Regent, Hellhound and I moved to follow them only to be surprised when the doors to the bank flung open and a crowd of people rushed out. They were releasing the hostages to slow us down.

We had to wait until the hostages were out of danger before entering, when we did the place was empty. According to the file whenever they needed to make a quick getaway they had Vista shorten the space they needed to travel and lengthen it behind them. Using this method they had been able to escape capture.

On the bright side they had been forced to leave most of the stolen money behind.

Outside Grue limped out of the darkness. He was covered in cuts and scrapes. Tattletale glanced at him with a questioning look, he just shook his head. Damn, she must have gotten away.

Not sure what to do next I just followed the rest of my new teams lead and started escorting the remaining hostages outside and calming them down. To my surprise Glory Girl flew off without trying anything when we started helping the hostages.

I had no idea what I was supposed to say in a situation like this, what did Heroes do on tv? I turned to one of the hostages, a brown haired girl with freckles. "Is everyone here ok? Did they hurt anyone?"

She shook her head and scowled. "No, none of us have physical injuries. That short girl only threatened to use her powers to kill us if we did anything, none of us wanted to test it out."

"Good, don't take risks around villains. Umm, stay safe" Damn I sucked at this Hero thing. Weren't Heroes supposed to be encouraging at a time like this? I just felt awkward.

I made sure was fine then moved onto the next person. Everyone told pretty much the same story even if a few were more shaken up than others. Eventually the emergency services arrived and we were able to hand the hostages over to them.

* * *

Dennis collapsed onto the couch and took his mask off. He wasn't going to lie, when the bugs began crawling inside his costume he had started to freak out. His skin still crawled at the thought of all of them skittering about.

Vista and Kid Win entered from the kitchen having finished counting the money. No Aegis who must be having one of his private phone calls with their anonymous benefactor. "How much did we get?" He asked them.

"We made it out with about six thousand." Vista answered with a downcast tone. "Who knows how much more we left behind."

"Great! Just fucking great!" Gallant shouted from the other couch. "I told you all we shouldn't have hit the biggest fucking bank in Brockton Bay!"

"There's no need to shout at them." Most of the time Gallant lived up to his name, if only as another kind of mask. When he was in his moods however his false persona dropped. Dennis usually left dealing with Gallant when he was like this to Aegis when he could. Unfortunately their team leader was still on the phone.

Gallant was about to retort when Shadow Stalker burst into the room and slammed the door behind her. Dennis felt a rush of relief at the knowledge that they had all escaped arrest.

Gallant however was still looking for an outlet. "There she fucking is! About time."

Shadow glared at him and stepped forward so they were eye to eye. "You got a fucking problem?"

"Hell yes I have a problem. If you hadn't **failed **your ambush so spectacularly we might have beaten them."

"Well maybe if **you** hadn't been taken out by a bunch of bugs-"

"Fuck you bitch!" Gallant unleashed one of his emotion blasts into her at point blank range. The effect looked like Shadow had been sucker punched as she stepped back.

At this Dennis found himself forced to step between them and hold his hands out threateningly. "Enough Gallant, we agreed to look away if you used your powers to pick up chicks or something but the rule was not to use our powers on each other."

"Whatever, fuck this shit I'm out!" Shadow shouted while flipping the bird and stomping out again.

Gallant sneered at him. "Who cares? It's not like we'll be a team for much longer. I doubt our benefactor will want to keep funding a team of failures."

"Actually you'd be wrong about that." Aegis said as he left the kitchen. He nodded to Clockblocker and stared down Gallant. "I got the sense she was happy with how today turned out."

"How could us losing make her happy?"

"Who knows. She said she'd keep to her promise of paying our total up to twenty five thou. That's gives us a little more than four thousand dollars each. _And _she's keeping us on her payroll which means future jobs."

Finally some good news. Dennis needed that money, though four thousand wouldn't be enough to cover the cost of treatment for long. "I guess today wasn't a total loss."

Aegis was nodding vigorously. "Exactly, today was a win in a way. You just have to look at it correctly." He turned to Gallant. "On to other matters, any idea why your girlfriend was there?"

Gallant shrugged. "How should I know?"

"This is important, we need to be careful about stepping on New Wave's toes carelessly. They're the most feared family in Brockton Bay and they know at least one of our identities."

"Fine, I'll ask her."

"Good. Now we need to discuss what went wrong and how we can prevent this from happening again. At least drop your attitude for that. Clock, call Shadow Stalker and find out if she's willing to come back."

They took out a whiteboard and started going over the robbery. Especially this mysterious new Ward. None of them had even heard of her yet here she was taking out Gallant. If she becomes a permanent Hero it could cause problems for their future jobs.

* * *

"Amy! Did they hurt you? I swear if they harmed a single hair on your body-"

"I'm fine Vic. They didn't do anything."

The moment Amy had returned home had Victoria run to her.

"What the hell was that arsehole thinking? I swear if he thinks he can just use you as a hostage then we're through!"

"Stop worrying, he's never met me. He had no way of knowing who I was."

"Even still. You're powerless so it's too dangerous for you to be near a fight."

Amy sighed as Victoria continued fussing over her. Whenever her skin made contact Amy's power filled her brain with the usual information. Complete knowledge of Vic's biology as well as an understanding of everything that she could configure. Down to the individual cells.

It scared her. What she could do with her power, her complete control over a person's entire being.

What scared her more was what her family might do if they found out what she was capable of. She shivered. Her family must never find out about her powers.

Never.


	4. Chapter 4

**Sorry that it's been a while since the last chapter.**

**TigerCat: I'm not intending to change everyone's personalities. Just changing which side they're on and if their new allegiance clashes with their canon personality then I adjust it to make more sense. Stalker is still a bad person, her allegiance just reflects that. For Panacea specifically she isn't really a Hero or a Villain so I had to flip her alignment somewhere else. In canon she's initially someone who helps people because she feels forced to. Here I'm imagining her as someone who wants to help but feels like she's forced to be a bystander.**

**Forum Explorer: Thanks for the name suggestions, I ended up going with something new.**

**Not A Criminal: Thank you :). I'm not 100% set on what Scion is up to, he might still be dormant. The Canon Endbringers operate similar to Canon only instead of destroying cities they save them. They fulfil the job Scion did except they only show up every few months. New Wave ambushed and killed Marquis at his home, there they found Amy. Knowing that she might inherit a version of Marquis's powerful ability they took her to use as a weapon.**

* * *

"Excellent work out there, this was another PR victory for the Brockton Bay Wards," Director Thomas Calvert declared as us Wards rested in plainclothes.

"But sir they all got away. And took some of the stolen money with them."

"Okay maybe today didn't go perfectly. Despite that we were able to sell it to the media as a win for the good guys. The local Wards team won a victory over a notorious gang of villains, thwarted a bank robbery and were able to do it without any of the hostages getting harmed."

"The media is especially curious about your new member as well, they're flooding us with questions. I'm afraid we won't be able to hold off on answers for much longer, have you thought of a name yet?"

This was a topic I had been thinking about quite a lot since my first night out. Grue had given me some advice, I just had to come up with a name that won't make people think negative thoughts.

"Monarch."

"Monarch?" Regent asked.

"Yeah. Like the butterfly. Spiders and cockroaches might look villainous if I theme myself off of them so I needed to figure out an insect that people wouldn't associate with villains. I just have to lean towards butterfly symbolism when presenting myself."

"You want to name yourself after butterflies? Your funeral, I wouldn't want to be you when you meet Glenn with a name like that."

"Monarch is good," Director Calvert cut in. "I'll let them know that you will introduce yourself shortly. We'll give you an hour to prepare yourself."

I paled. I was actually going to have to talk in front of a crowd? And I only had an hour to get ready?! The last time I had spoken in front of a crowd was during middle school, when Emma and I were still friends. For some reason this scared me more than fighting villains had.

"Now that you're becoming a Hero we'll need to talk about redesigning your costume to give a more Heroic impression."

I looked at my costume which was lying nearby. What was wrong with it? I mean sure it was a little dark and edgy but that just made it better for stealth right?

"We have a number of spare costumes on hand, if you want to go for a butterfly theme perhaps one with more of a rainbow colour scheme?"

Alec actually burst into laughter at this, I turned to look at the others. Both Brian and Lisa were trying to stifle their own laughter, Rachel didn't seem to be paying attention. "Absolutely not, I am not wearing a rainbow."

"Alright no rainbows then. However you will have to give your costume a lighter colour scheme. We already have Grue and Hellhound on the team with the more 'underworld' look." I looked at the two teammates in question. Grue's was still even darker than mine, which I suppose fit considering his power.

Hellhound was different as it wasn't her costume that was the problem. Apparently after Grue the PR department had been determined to project a less intimidating image than her power would suggest. They had stuck her with a costume reminiscent of a lion tamer, much to Hellhound's displeasure. They let her keep her dog face mask, though according to Grue the one she had initially wanted was much more intimidating.

The problem was that despite how the PRT might dress her up, Hellhound's power was scary, it turned dogs into giant monsters after all. Currently most of the public was hesitant around her. She only had a fringe following, mainly animal rights groups due to the dog fighting rings she kept breaking up.

I guess I really do need to project a lighter image to make up for those two. "Fine, how about just adding some orange? At least then it fits with the name."

The Director nodded. "That can work, are you fine with one of our on hand costume designers making a few temporary adjustments before the interview? We'll only be adding some orange to give the crowd the impression we want. There will be room for more permanent adjustments later."

I hesitated. Sure it might sound silly, but I had designed and built this suit on my own. Could I really let someone else tamper with it?

I suppose if it's only temporary. I reluctantly hand my costume over to a nearby PRT employee while mentally preparing myself for the upcoming event.

The ringing of my phone shakes me out of my thinking. I fumble it out of my pocket and check who it is.

"Hey dad."

"Taylor? I just heard the Wards were in a fight against some villains, where were you? Were you safe?"

"I was there dad, and yes I'm safe."

He paused. "I had hoped they would wait a bit longer before putting you in your first fight. Villains are too dangerous. Did they at least keep you at a far distance from the fight?"

I had needed to tell dad about my powers in order to join the Wards since we needed a guardian's permission. Understandable I guess, still annoying to go through. Dad didn't take the news well, it was a bit of a shock for him and I guess he hoped it was some joke. I'm just glad I didn't tell him about the first two fights I was in, I would never hear the end of it.

When I mentioned I wanted to join the Wards he almost refused to give me permission. Fortunately he agreed to meet with Lung and the Director who convinced him that they could keep me safe and that joining the Wards was a better option than me trying to go solo in defiance.

"Everything's fine dad. No one got hurt. And besides my power lets me fight from a safe distance."

"Yes, your power. I see. Just promise me you will stay safe and won't let them force you to fight anyone dangerous."

I promised him I would and we exchanged goodbyes. For some reason Rachel stomped out of the room. Afterwards Lisa plopped down next to me on the couch while Brian and Alec took the other couch.

"Is your father taking this situation any better?" Lisa asked.

I shook my head. "He still can't believe I really have powers. I'm worried that if he knew how long I'd been keeping them secret from him he would take it even worse." I dropped the phone into my bag and leaned back against the couch. "How did your parents react when they found out?"

"Oh mum doesn't know, that is unless dad told her since I left. I do know that dad figured it out though he mostly tried to find a way to exploit it."

"Don't you need their permission to join the Wards?"

"Nah, I got special circumstances. Same with Brian and Rachel."

Brian shot a glare at Lisa who just grinned. "As Lisa just mentioned there are situations where the PRT can't exactly contact our parents. Take Rachel for example, when they found her she was between foster homes so she didn't exactly have a guardian that could sign for her."

That surprised me. "Rachel was in the foster system?"

"Why do you think she took listening to your phone call with your dad so poorly?"

That explained a lot about how she had been acting. I felt bad for mostly ignoring her until now, I really need to get closer to her some time. However I was still curious about something Lisa had said. "Does that mean you're parents know about your powers Alec?"

He laughed at that. "Well the better, I wasn't exactly hiding it and dear old dad should know what to look for."

Lisa must have seen my confusion. "His dad's a Hero already. He's Matchmaker."

I gaped. "Matchmaker? Your dad is **The** Matchmaker?"

"See this is why I don't tell people. Do you have any idea what it's like having a celebrity for a father? I had to transfer teams just to get away from it."

Matchmaker was one of Canada's most famous Heroes and the leader of the Montreal Protectorate. Renowned for helping numerous Villains rehabilitate as well as continually showing up to most Endbringer battles. He was a legend.

I was about to ask Alec some more questions when a PRT employee walked in carrying my modified costume. "You have five minutes to get changed and get upstairs for the announcement."

Holy cow I wasn't ready. I hurriedly put the costume on while nervously checking the additions. Honestly I have to say for a rush job it was actually pretty well done. The black and grey were now offset with a large amount of bright orange. The mask was also modified to be less intimidating with some small antennas added.

It definitely removed a lot of the intimidation factor that I was worried would make people mistake me for a Villain. It might have less presence than before but it will do a better job as a Hero's costume now.

I took the elevator upstairs and was led behind the stage where the Director was making his speech for a small gathering of news crews.

"-marvellous victory over an until now undefeated gang of Villains. Despite being outnumbered our local Wards demonstrated that they are not just a bunch of teenagers, but true Heroes all. In addition I am pleased to announce the debut of a brand new Ward. This brave young woman took part in the operation that foiled the bank robbery earlier today and it is thanks to her that thousands of dollars were saved and the hostages rescued unharmed. It is my honour to welcome, Monarch."

I walked on the stage in autopilot and half a dozen cameras turned towards me, my mind went blank. I didn't know where to walk or what to look at. Vaguely I recalled watching the debuts of new Heroes on the news and drew from what I remembered of them. I walked to the Director and turned to face the news crews.

This was the point new Heroes normally made a declaration right? I wasn't sure what to say so I just improvised. "Today was a victory, however those that would subvert justice will already be making new plans. I swear to remain ever vigilant to protect the people of America."

Instantly I was barraged with generic questions. "What made you go with the name 'Monarch'?" "What inspired you to become a Hero?" "Who is your favourite Protectorate Hero?" Thankfully there were no personal questions or questions about my power, apparently that was frowned upon. I tried my best to answer them all without giving away my completely unheroic stagefright.

After a few minutes I was mercifully allowed to leave the stage while already cringing at the thought of someone I knew seeing that speech on television. Why couldn't I have just remained silent?

My teammates were there to greet me afterwards. Now that the immediate problem was out of the way I needed to focus on my next problem, Operation Befriend Hellhound. "Hey guys, let's meet up tomorrow in the city tomorrow. I need something mundane to take my mind of everything that's happened in the last few days."

"Excellent idea," Brian remarked. "We could do with a group bonding activity."

"We haven't done anything as a group in a while. I like the idea," Lisa beamed.

"Great. Does anyone know where Rachel is? I'll invite her in person."

"She normally doesn't agree to these things, but I think she's in the kennel if you want to try."

* * *

I took the elevator to a section of the building I hadn't seen before. This room had been converted into a space for Hellhound to keep her dogs so they would be close at hand. There were cages for her four main dogs as well as a few empty ones for future additions. According to Lisa the PRT even ensured a vet visited daily to check up on them even despite Hellhound's power healing the dogs.

I found her grooming her dogs. "Hey Rachel, you did great out there," I awkwardly started.

She looked up at me with a glare of suspicion and remained silent.

"Umm, the rest of us were going to meet up tomorrow if you wanted to come?"

"No thanks." She turned away from me and focused on her dogs again. I stood there for a few moments, unsure of what to do before leaving. I need to find a better way to connect with her.


End file.
